Bottle cooling and vending means



Feb. 16', 1943. L 1-. F LILLY 2,311,449

BOTTLE COOLING ,AND VENDING MEANS Filed April 10, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet l770/7703 F [JV/y.

Feb. 16, 1943. T. F. ULLY BOTTLE COOLING AND VENDING MEANS; I

Filed April 10, 1940 .-4 Shets-Sheet2 V o (153 ,PMJU N 270/045 EAL 4y.

3 II/ II/ 1/ I 1/ 9 1 & Q, 8%

MIN I Feb. 16; 1943.

T. F. LILLY BOTTLE COOLING AND VENDING MEANS Filed April 10, 1940 4Sheets-Sheet :5

.50 mlmmmlml I Thomas F Lil y.

T. F. LILLY BOTTLE COOLING- AND VENDING MEANS Feb. 16, 1943.

Filed April 10, 1940 4 sheets sheet 4 mamas 1 19.

atented Feb. 16, 19433 UNITED STATES "PATENT OFFICE normCOOIJNiffiiENDlNG MnANs Thomas F. Lilly, Memphis, Tenn. ApplicationApril 10, 1940, Serial N... 328,964

zoclaims.

My invention relates to a bottle cooling and vending means and it is anobject of the same to provide an improved device which shall meet thedemand for a more sanitary way of handling bottled beverages. As mostcommonly handled at present, such bottled beverages are placed in a tankof cold water indiscriminately and are selected therefrom by persons whousually grasp the top of the desired bottle and remove it from the tank,after which the cap is removed'and very commonly the contents areimbibed by merely tilting the bottle and drinking directly from themouth of the same. Since the hands that contact with the bottle carrymany germs, and since the water in the tank is also full of germs itfrequently happens that diseases of various sorts are spread by such useof the bottles, even though dealers and users attempt to exercise carein handling them. By the use of my device handling is reduced andcontact of the hands with the upper part of the bottle is largely orentirely avoided and the operation of the cooling means is such that thecooling water is prevented from contacting with the cap or with the topof the bottle.

Another object of my invention is to provide.

an improved method of supporting the bottles in a cabinet for coolingthem, the arrangement being such as to facilitate convenient vending.

Another object of my invention is to provide Another object is toprovide bottle cooling and vending means with an inclined bottle supportso located with reference to a tank of cold water that the water canrise no higher than about one and one-half inches below the crown or capof a bottle on the support.

means for segregating bottles containing a particular beverage or aparticular flavor from all the other bottles in the container andvending them separately in a convenient and expeditious manner, withhandling means of such a nature that a bottle of a desired character orflavor will be delivered promptly and in convenient position to begrasped at a. point below, its neck and withdrawn from the cabinet.

Another object of the invention is to provide mechanically controlledgravity feeding means, in combination with means whereby all bottlesexcept the lowermost one of a series areposttively held'back out ofdelivery position.

Another object of the invention is to provide convenient means fordelivering small quantities of sized or cracked ice from the icecompartment of a cabinet, as for icing beverages, etc.

Another object of the invention is to provide bottle supporting means insuch relation to an ice compartment that the bottles will be below theice but very close to it.

Another object is to provide a bottle 'cooler that will accommodateeither short or long bottles indiscriminately.

Another object is to make such a tank of a shape that will causecirculation of water about the .bottles carried by the overhead bottlesupport.

Another object is to provide for the passage of air from, the front ofthe chamber upward and backward so as to impinge on the ice at thehighest portion of the grid next the rear wall of the cabinet.

Another object of the invention is to provide compact and convenientmeans for storing bottles to be vended and for cooling them while sostored, in combination with compact and convenient means for maintainingice out of contact with the bottles and providing convenient means forstoring bottles for precooling, all such means being interconnected forautomatic operation, so that a minimum amount of personal attention isdesired. Other objects and advantages will appear from the annexedspecification.

Referring to the drawings which are made a part of this application andin. which similar reference characters indicate similar parts:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my improved device;

Fig. 2, 'a longitudinal vertical section of the I same;

Fig. 3, a similar section with thebottles omitted; v

Fig. 4, a vertical section transversely of the device;

Fig. 5, a rear elevation;

Fig. 6, a vertical section near the front of the device;

Fig. 'I, an enlarged vertical section, showing on a larger scale certainparts illustrated in Fig. 3;

Fig. 8, a view similar to part of Fig. 7 but showing parts in adifferent position;

Fig. 9, an enlarged detail of parts shown in Figs. 4 and 6;

Fig. 10, a section on line Ill-ill of Fig. '7;

Fig. 11, a vertical section of dispensing means for sized ice;

Fig. 12, a similar view with parts in a different position;

Fig. 13, a plan of the same, and.

Fig. 14, a detail of a drip guide.

In the drawings reference character 20 indicates generally the cabinetwhich is the subject of my invention, said cabinet having at its upperend an ice compartment 2| with a door 22 which be seen that the coolingwater will fall on the shoulder or lower parts of the bottles and will anever come in contact with their caps or upper portions. As best shownin Fig. 14, the drip guides 33 are serrated at their lower edges at 35,or otherwise shaped so that the water will drip from them on theshoulders of the bottles of said compartments although separate doorsmay be used if desired. It will be noted in Fig. 2

that the water in the cooling compartment will reach a predeterminedlevel after which it will overflow through a, drainpipe 21 into theprecooling compartment, said drainpipe being mounted in a partition 28between compartments 24 and 25 and being so trap to prevent air fromment from rising into ment 24.

Between the ice compartment 2| and the cooling compartment 24 there area number of grid members which extend from front to rear of the cabinetand which form a floor for the ice compartment. The grid thus formedconsists of two sets of grid members. In the one set there are theprecooling compartthe cooling comparta number of parallel hollow metalrack bars 28 (Fig. 9), here shown as being parallel to one another andrectangular in section and having a longitudinal slot at the bottom ofeach one, so that they are substantially of. inverted U-shape. The sides30 and 3| of the slot in each case are spaced apart far enough to admitthe neck of a bottle 32 between them, as best shown in Fig. 10, but areclose enough together so that the bottle is securely held thereby andthese members are so mounted, as shown in Fig. 2, that bottles may beinserted one by one at the highest point of such a rack bar and will besupported thereby for sliding movement down the inclined rack bar butcan only be released after they reach the lower end of the rack bar. Inthe illustrated embodiment of the invention there are shown a series ofeight such rack bars mounted in a row extending transversely of thecabinet. This means that beverages of eight different varieties orflavors or otherwise difierentiated from one another may each besupplied to one of the run ways thus formed and each will be separatelydelivered at the front of the machine.

Between the rack bars or runways 29 there are arranged members 33 ofanother set of grids. Said members form drip guides, the members 33being each of inverted V-shape and being secured at their ends in asuitable supporting means for holding both sets of positions. It will beseen that the runways 23 constitute floor members for the icecompartment and will generally carry the weight of the ice thereinthough small pieces of ice may slip down between them and rest on thedrip guides 33. As the ice meltsthe cold water will run down between therack members 28 and still be carried by the sides of the drip guidestoward the bottles which are suspended below them. Since the bulge 34(Fig. 10) at the neck of the bottle is within a runway 28 in eachinstance and so is mounted at a substantial elevation above the lowermargin of each adjacent drip guide it wi shaped as to provide a and willnot merely run down the inclined edges of said drip guides.

At the lower end of the and formed by the rack members 29 and the dripguides 33 there are delivery cells at 38 providing a floor or ledge forsupporting'bottles of each series after they pass beyond the rack bars.These cells are here shown as forming merely a continuation of thecooling chamber and as being in efi'ect a con tinuous cell extendingacross all the rack members but they may be separated by partitions toinsure that the bottles therein will stand up, or they may be otherwiseformed for convenient delivery of bottles.

It will be appreciated that the bottles tend to slide down the rackmembers by the action of gravity but in order to insure uniform andcertain delivery of the bottles I preferably provide each rack memberwith means for positively moving all the bottles therein toward thedelivery cell and for causing one of them to assume the position ofbottle 31 in Fig. 2, i. e., to be ready ,for delivery. Such meanscomprises, as herein shown, a slidable member 38 which may besubstantially of inverted U form in cross section and which is soproportioned that the upper flat part at 38 slides against the adjacentflat face of the runway 28 while the lowermost edges at 40 and 4| restagainst opposite corners of the chute, so as to hold the U-shaped membersecurely in place. This U-shaped member. 38 has pivotally supportedthereon a series of T-shaped pawls 42with lugs 43 extending through theside members of the U-shaped support as shown in Fig. 10. Said pawls arepreferably bent as in grids in the indicated Fig. 8 and are so mountedthat their longer ends tend to fall into the position shown in Fig. 7.It will thus be seen that if the part 38 which carries the pawls isreciprocated the pawls will ride over the tops of the bottles, as inFig. 8, until they have passed the respective bottles and will then tiltdownward into the position shown in Fig. 7. When the feeder is now movedback toward the left or downward it will carry with it the bottles inthe rack and will cause the foremost of the series to enter its deliverycell.

For thus moving the feeder of each row of bottles I provide doors 44each individual to one row of bottles and each secured to one of thefeeders, asby means of an angle iron 45 shown in Fig.7. These doors areslidable and for that purpose are furnished front end ofinclinedpartition 41 and another partition 48 which is parallel to thedoor, these partitions providing an unobstructed slideway for the doorsand preventing access of the ice to such slideway. In order to preventany of the bottles in .the rack from moving into the delivery cell whenthe corresponding door -is opened and while the bottle therein, as at31, is being removed the door is provided with a stop 48 which engagesthe foremost bottle in the runway and holds back all the bottles inthatrunway until the door is again closed when it forces the remainingbottles in the runway toward the front of the cabinet, as abovedescribed.

. For each of the doors I provide a coin conwith buttons 46 at the k theice compartment. There is an trolled device, indicated at 50, so thatupon insertion of a coin one of the doors will be'un locked and a bottlewithdrawn from the delivery cell, while all the remaining doors remainlocked. I Above each runway I provide a register, as indicated at inFig.2, said register having a depending arm 53 so positioned that whenthe bulge at the neck of the bottle is entered in the runway it mustactuate the arm 53 to operate the register and so count each bottle that'is placed in that runway.

Preferably, though not necessarily, I provide a lifter adjacent thedelivery position for the bottles in each runway. The delivery devicecomprises a rock arm 5Q pivoted at 55 and having an upwardly extendingarm 56 extending intothe the bottles close to the ice andin suchposition that the cold water passing from the ice is ap'-' plied to thebottles most effectively, i. e., substantially over their entire lengthand circumference while still moving and before it reaches the bottom ofthe cooling chamber or is collected therein; they act as guards toprevent wetting or soiling of the tops of the bottles; they act asguides to direct the water against the shoulders of the bottles; as icecirculators for conducting air from the front of the cooling chamber tothe highest part of the grid on which the ice rests;

and they act as carriers for the bottle feeder shells.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many changes may bemade in the bottle path of a lug 51 on the sliding door. The rock arm 54is of course laterally extended sufli'ciently to engage under asubstantial part of the bottom of the bottle and when the door 44 isopened the lever formed by arms 54' and 56 will be tilted on its pivotto lift the bottle so that it can be grasped more readily andparticularly so that it can readily be grasped at a distance below thecap so as to preserve the sanitary condition of the top of the bottleadjacent the cap.

It is frequently desirable to be able to remove a small quantity ofsized ice from the ice compartment, so for icing a glass of water or thelike, and for this purpose I have provided means such as shown in Figs.11 to 13 and comprising a casing feeders and in other elements of myinvention, all without departing from the'spirit of the invention;therefore, I do not limit myself to what is shown and described in thespecification but only as indicated in the appended claims.

Having thus fullv described my invention, what I claim is:

- 1. Cooling and vending means for, bottled beverages and the likecomprising a compartment for ice, an inclined floor for saidcompartment, means in connection with said floor providing coveredrunways for supporting bottles by their neck portions, and means betweensaid run- 58 projecting into the ice'compartment, for example in such aposition as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Within the casing there is'atelescoping chamber 58 having a handle 60 at its outer end The twoparts are provided with registering apertures at the top as indicated at6| and there is a similar aperture 62 at the bottom of the mem-- ber 60.The apertures are of such suitable size as to permit the ice fragmentsto enter and fill the chamber more or less completely and it will beseen that upon retraction of the chamber the ice fragments can fall outthrough the lower opening 62, or the chamber can if necessary becompletely withdrawn and the fragments shaken out. Preferably the partsare of such size that the space between the openings will contain aconvenient amount of ice for the purpose stated.

At a suitable level in the precooling compartment there is provided adrain 64 which will carry off excess water so that the water level willbe approximately at the height indicated by the dot and dash line inFigs. 2 and 3.

The arrangement of parts is such that the melting ice is near to butspaced from the bottles; that the cold water dripping off the plates 33will fall on the shoulders of the bottles well below ways for directingthe water from the melting ice in said compartment against said bottlesbelow their necks.

2. A device as in claim 1, including a cooling compartment below saidice compartment, a delivery cell at the lower end of a runway fordelivery of bottles and forming a part of said cooling compartment, thecooling compartment being arranged to collect the water from the meltingice and to maintain a body of such water in the path of bottles in saidrimways with the upper level of said body of water lower than the top ofa bottle in a delivery cell, means for moving all the bottlesin therunway toward said cell, and means for preventing delivery of more thana predetermined number of bottles to said cell.

3. A device as in claim 1, including a cooling compartment below saidice compartment, a delivery cell at the lower end of a runway andformscending bottles that are being cooled and grad-v ually rises higherwith respect to the bottles but never higher than about one and one-halfinches below the crown of a bottle; and the shape of the bottle chamberis such that there is continuous circulation of water about the lowerparts of the bottles.

Thefunctionsv of the grid that separates the ice chamber from thecooling chamber are manifold. Thus they hold the bottles in orderlymanner while'cooling; they permit the bottles to slide forward anddownward so as to be presented in ing a part of said coolingcompartment, the -cooling compartment being arranged to collect thewater from the melting ice and to maintain a body of suchwater in thepath of bottles in said runways with the upper level of said body ofwater lower than the top of a bottle in a delivery cell, a doorindividual to said runway, and means correlated with the movements ofthe door for delivering a bottle to said cell as the door is closed.

4. A device as'in claim 1, including a cooling compartment below saidicecompartment, a delivery cell at the lower end of a runway and forming apart of said cooling compartment, the

' cooling compartment being arranged to collect order for vending themand so as to insure that the coldest of a series is sold first; theysupport the water from the melting ice and to maintain a body of suchwater in the path of bottles in said runways withthe upper level of saidbody of water lower than the top of a bottle in a delivery cell, a doorindividual to said runway, and means operating in timed relation withthe movement of the door for raising a bottle in the cell into morereadily accessible position as the door is opened while still "holding asubstantial portion of said bottle submerged.

5. A device as in claim 1, including a cooling compartment below saidice compartment, a delivery cell at the lower end of a runway andforming a part of said coolingcompartment, the cooling compartment beingarranged to collect the water from the melting ice and to maintain abody of such water in the path of bottles in said runways with the upperlevel of said body of a delivery station at the lower end of the runway,said delivery station forming the lowest part of said compartment, andmeans for maintain-, ing the level of cooling liquid in said compartmentbelow the top of a bottle at said delivery station.

'7. In a store service apparatus, the combination of a cabinet having aninclined runway for bottles, a compartment for cooling liquid includinga floor substantially parallel to said runway, a delivery station at thelower end of the runway, said delivery station forming the lowest partof said compartment, means for maintain ing the level of cooling liquidin said compartment below the top of a bottle at said delivery station,a door. for covering said delivery station and means connected to thedoor for lifting a bottle at the delivery station as the door is openedwhile keeping a'. substantial portion of said bottle submerged.

8. Cooling and vending means for bottled goods comprising a compartmentfor ice, an inclined floor for said compartment, said floor comprising aseries of inclined rack bars each having means to support a bottle byits neck portion and each being closed at the top, and means betweensaid rack bars for directing water from the melting ice against thebottles below said rack bars.

9. Cooling and vending means for bottled bar to engage said bottles andforce-them down along said rack bars upon movement of said reciprocatorybar in one direction but riding over the bottle tops upon reversemovement of. said bar, 'a. delivery station at the lower end 01' eachrack bar, a door for closing said delivery station, and means connectingeach reciprocatory bar to the corresponding door.

14. Cooling and vending means for bottled beverages comprising an upperice compartment, a cooling compartment below the ice compartment, adelivery station at one end of said cooling compartment, means in saidcooling compartment for suspending a series of bottles by their neckportions, means for causing said bottles to enter to said deliverystation successively, and means to direct the drip from said icecompartment so as to cause it to impinge only on parts of the bottlesbelow their mouth ends.

15. A cooling and vending cabinet for bottled beverages and the likecomprising an upper compartment for ice, an intermediate compartmenthaving inlet andoutlet openings, spaced beverages and the like includinga compartment for cracked ice, an inclined floor for said compartmentcomprising a plurality of spaced inclined rack bars, some of said barsbeing approximately of inverted U-shape in section so as to support abottle by engaging under the bulge adjacent its mouth while covering andprotecting the upper end of the bottle, and other intermediate gridmembers being shaped to cause down-flowing water to impinge on saidbottles at a distance from their upper ends.

10. A device as in claim 9, said intermediate grid members being.approximately of inverted.

V-shape and being serrated along their lower edges, as and forthepurpose set forth.

11. A device as in claim 9, including means in said U-shaped rack barsfor engaging the upper ends of bottles supported thereby to move thealong the rack bars.

'12. A device as in claim 9, including a reciprocatory bar fitting inthe U-shaped rack bar of each runway, and pawls to engage said bottlesto force them down along said rack bars upon movement of saidreciprocatory bar in one direction but riding over the bottle tops uponreverse movement of said bars.

13. A device as in claim 9, including a reciprocatory bar fitting in theU-shaped rack bar of each runway, and pawls on each reciprocatory rackbars in the intermediate compartment inclined from the inlet toward theoutlet, means on said bars for supporting bottles suspended by theirneck portions and for covering their up-- per portions, means fordirecting water from the melting ice against the lower portions ofsuspended bottles, an inclined floor for said intermediate compartment,a pre-cooling compartment below said intermediate compartment, and adrain in said floor for permitting water to pass from the intermediatecompartment to the lower compartment, said drain being spaced from thelower end of said floor to permit water to stand around the lowerportions 01. the suspended bottles. 1

16. Cooling apparatus-for bottles and the like comprising an uppercompartment for ice, an intermediate compartment having inlet and outletopenings, means inclined trom the inlet to the outlet opening forsuspending bottles by their neck portions, an inclined floor for saidintermediate compartment, 9. pre-cooling compartment below said floor,and means at an elevated portion of said floor for draining water fromthe intermediate to the lower compartment.

17. Vending apparatus comprising a cabinet, a series of rack barstherein each arranged to suspend a row of bottles by their necks, asupply door common to all of said bars for aflording access thereto,delivery cells at the outlet end of said barsincluding a ledge on whicha bottle may stand after leaving its bar, a door for each oi. saidcells, and a separate means for locking each of saiddoors. I

18. Cooling and vending means comprising a cabinet having an inclinedgrid separating an ice compartment from a cooling compartment, said gridincluding upwardly and 'rearwardly inclined rack bars approximately ofinverted U-shape in section, means at the under side of such rack barsfor engaging under a bulge adjacent the ing bottles; said upper floorprovided on its underside with means for suspending bottles by theirnecks for downward sliding movement along said inclined floor. saidupper floor also providing means for covering the tops of said bottleswhile causing ice-water to run down their sides from the ice on saidfloor, and a drain leading through an elevated part of the lower floorto said pre-cooiing compartment.

moms F. LIILY.

